Rivals challenge Bluffton Outpatient Center

COLUMBIA — The Bluffton Outpatient Center, which won reversal last month of a regulatory defeat, is embattled again.

Competitors of Hilton Head Hospital — which is proposing the outpatient center — argue the decision to grant a permit violates the state constitution and Certificate of Need Act.

A letter dated April 13 from St. Joseph’s/Candler to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control lays those and other charges out against the March 29 decision by state regulators to reverse initial denial of a certificate of need (CON) for the Bluffton Outpatient Center.

St. Joseph’s/Candler is fighting the proposed Hilton Head Hospital project on a host of fronts, including the charge that it was against the law for the state agency to rehash a decision already issued. The letter argues that DHEC was not allowed to modify its initial decision unless ordered by the Administrative Law Court or a higher court. The letter also says the DHEC Board had no legal authority to remand a decision back to the staff level.

On Feb. 6, state health officials had denied the certificate, which is a tightly regulated permit needed to build the $18 million facility. Hilton Head Hospital appealed the denial that month.

In March, DHEC staff asked the board to remand the matter back to them for more consideration. The agency board agreed, and then on March 29, the DHEC staff threw out its Feb. 6 denial and granted Hilton Head Hospital a certificate of need for the Bluffton Outpatient Center.

That brings the dispute to the April 13 challenge, in which the rival hospitals are requesting the DHEC board take another look at the staff’s decision to grant the certificate. The certificate of need program is intended to eliminate waste, contain health care costs and ensure that under-served populations and rural communities do not see their health care options shut down.

Both St. Joseph’s/Candler and Beaufort Memorial Hospital had registered their objections with DHEC to the proposed 60,000-square-foot Bluffton Outpatient Center, arguing that the facility would divert their client base in order to meet its projections.

“We have been totally transparent in this CON application with all DHEC officials documenting that this project meets community need and consolidates existing services in Bluffton,” said Kelly Presnell, Hilton Head Hospital spokeswoman.

“This project has strong support from local physicians and community leaders. We are confident that the regulatory process will result in an outcome that will be best for the Bluffton community.”

Indeed, Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka had hailed the project in her State of Bluffton address in March.

The center is planned for 12 acres near the intersection of U.S. 278 and Buck Island Road, in Bluffton Commons at Belfair development and has already gathered local and zoning approvals.

Asked Thursday afternoon if he was one of the community leaders backing the Bluffton Outpatient Center, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, a Democrat, said he has not pressed the case for any of the area’s health systems in the current medical race.

Pinckney, whose district includes all of Jasper County, part of Beaufort County and others, also said no one from the hospitals has asked him to intervene, and he does not intend to step in.

But the senator said he attended a St.Joseph’s/Candler reception held a few weeks ago.

“It was an informal event, and no one said, ‘We want you to do such and such for us,’” said Pinckney.

He said the race between rival health care systems signify “growing pains” that reflect the area’s population boom.

Pinckney said he supports the state’s certificate-of-need regulatory process, and that it should be allowed to work in order to ensure the public’s interest is served.

“The public is most concerned about, ‘Can I get an appointment with a doctor? Can I get medical care?’”